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Let the Games Begin!

So, you’re thinking about a career in real estate? Great! It can be especially rewarding if you’re the kind of person who likes to take charge and carve out your own destiny. Say goodbye to annual reviews, begging for promotions, and office politics. You want to be the Boss!

You want to be free!

However, freedom is like rope. Give a guy enough and he might hang himself if he’s not careful! To avoid such a tragic end, you must treat real estate sales like a business. And every good business begins with a goal.

You Gotta Have a Goal

When’s the last time you began a vacation by pointing your car west and driving with no destination in mind? Probably never. In the neighborhoods served by Property Consultants Realty, it’s reasonable for an agent to earn $100,000 per year. That’s the prize you should fix your eyes on for the next 12 months.

Reverse Engineering

So, your goal is $100,000. Now what? Let’s plug in a few numbers to see what that means in terms of action:

What’s Next?

So, you’ve set a goal and some major milestones. Now what? It’s time to plan activities which’ll help you achieve your goal. See you next time and have an epic day!

Property Consultants Realty was established in 1989. We are well known in Bucktown, Wicker Park, and the surrounding areas. We are committed to providing world class service based on integrity, communication and expertise. We always place our client’s needs first.

If you’re ready to succeed, want top-notch training, ongoing support, and access to the best tools, then join our team.

Complete the form below and let’s schedule time to talk about your future.

…Without Getting Your Face Caved In

Is it just me or do you ever feel overwhelmed by the rush of information coming from all directions? Everyday, there’s no shortage of people vying for my attention. I have to work diligently to keep from getting crushed by the flood of voicemail, text, and email.

So, how do I manage the onslaught of information? In my previous post, ‘Are You a Blockhead?‘ I showed that time blocking is crucial to getting things done. I try not to react to every voicemail, text, and email as it comes in. Instead, I block out time throughout the day to deal with them. Following, I’ll share tips and tools I use to drink from the fire hose without getting my face caved in.

Calls

It’s important to me to separate my business from my personal life. I don’t want consumers calling my personal cell phone number. I use Google Voice. With it, I created a business phone number that rings other designated phones; cell, work, assistant, etc. After setting things up, I downloaded the Google Voice extension for Chrome. A small button was placed on my browser:

I can click the button to make calls, texts, and view my Google Voice inbox. But the best thing about it is that it turns all phone numbers into click-to-call links. This saves a lot of time. I manage my business with Top Producer. When I want to call someone, I just click the blue phone number link, and Google Voice makes the call:

Voicemail & Text

To manage voicemail and text, I open Google Voice. If I click the Inbox link, I can view all calls and texts in chronological order. If I click the Voicemails link, I see only voicemails, and likewise when I click Texts. If I click the Play button underneath a voicemail, I can listen to a recording. And lastly, if I enter a person’s name or phone number in the search field, I can view all voicemail and text from that person.

To learn more about Google Voice and what it can do for you, check out this video playlist:

Email

I direct all of my email accounts (sales, recruiting, leasing, training, personal) to flow into my Gmail inbox. One of my favorite things is its search capability. Setting up and managing folders is too tedious for me. After I’ve responded fully to an email, I archive it. If I need to recall it later, I enter a name, word, or phrase, and BAM…there it is!

Also, I sync Gmail with Top Producer. By doing this, any communication in Gmail will also appear in that person’s Top Producer contact record:

Next Steps

Thanks to Google Voice, Gmail, and Top Producer, I can drink from a fire hose without getting my face caved in. So, what’s next? I’ll share tools and tips for creating five videos per week. See you next time and have an epic day!

Property Consultants Realty was established in 1989. We are well known in Bucktown, Wicker Park, and the surrounding areas. We are committed to providing world class service based on integrity, communication and expertise. We always place our client’s needs first.

If you’re ready to succeed, want top-notch training, ongoing support, and access to the best tools, then join our team.

Complete the form below and let’s schedule time to talk about your future.

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Charlie Brown

I was born at the end of the Baby Boom. And as such, I grew up on Charlie Brown: boy-next-door, antihero. Poor Charlie Brown was continually tormented by his archnemesis: Lucy. She would sadistically pull away the football every time he tried to kick a field goal. And after he landed on his back with a thud, she’d look down at him, shake her head and say, ‘Charlie Brown, you blockhead!’

I too am a blockhead…but of a different sort.

You Wanna Rock? You Better Block!

If you don’t block out time to complete tasks, then they won’t get done. So, it’s crucial that you place tasks on a calendar. I use Top Producer, and like most CRM, it has a calendar. It allows me to do the following:

Block out time for recurring tasks

Schedule appointments

Set reminders

Display past due tasks

Share calendars

View tasks by day, week, month

Print reports

And more…

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Let’s face it. There’s a lot of repetition in our business, and I’m OK with that. But why recreate the wheel every morning? The logical thing to do is to set up repetitive tasks so that they recur automatically on your calendar.

For example, video is my medium for creating content. I create five brief videos per week as follows:

My spreadsheet tells me what to do and how much, but my calendar tells me when and how long:

Set it and forget it. No need to think about what you’re going to do every day, just execute.

I’m Old…I Need to be Reminded

Alzheimer’s hasn’t set in yet. However, it’s helpful to be reminded to stop one task and start another. As you get busy, it’s easy to lose track of time. If you get caught up in one task, you may run out of time for other important things. So setting up reminders for recurring activities and appointments is a must.

When Was That Due?

On the Top Producer home screen, there’s a section entitled My Business. I can view incomplete activities sorted by type; calls, appointments, to dos, etc. I can quickly identify overdue tasks because they have red exclamation marks next to them:

Sharing is Caring

Once upon a time, I had assistants and a team. Sharing calendars allowed us to coordinate activities, work efficiently, and hold one another accountable. I can view team member calendars simply by selecting from a drop-down list. Also, I can grant authority to my Assistant to view selected calendars.

There’s an App for That

I sync my Top Producer calendar with my Google calendar and manage everything from there. Why? Because I maintain several calendars and it’s nice to have them all in one place. Google allows me to color code, view them together, separately, or in any combination. To view all that Google calendar has to offer, check out this video playlist:

Next Steps

So now that you’ve blocked out time to complete tasks, what’s next? Choose tools to complete them. See you next time and have an epic day!

Property Consultants Realty was established in 1989. We are well known in Bucktown, Wicker Park, and the surrounding areas. We are committed to providing world class service based on integrity, communication and expertise. We always place our client’s needs first.

If you’re ready to succeed, want top-notch training, ongoing support, and access to the best tools, then join our team.

Complete the form below and let’s schedule time to talk about your future.

Property Consultants Realty was established in 1989. We are well known in Bucktown, Wicker Park, and surrounding Chicago neighborhoods. We are committed to providing world class service based on integrity, communication and expertise. We always place our client’s needs first.

If you’re ready to succeed, want top-notch training, ongoing support, and access to the best tools, then join our team.

Complete the form on this page and let’s schedule time to talk about your future.

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I Like Ike

Dwight D. Eisenhower, nicknamed Ike, was the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and the 34th President of the United States. He once famously said, “Plans are useless, but planning is everything.”

What did he mean? Did he send troops into battle without a plan?

Of course not.

Ike knew with reasonable certainty how he would begin a battle. On the other hand, the enemy would have a thing or two to say about what would happen next! Therefore, he and his Generals planned to pivot. In other words, if the enemy does this, we’ll do that. But, if they do that, then we’ll do this…and so forth.

So What’s This Got to do with Real Estate?

In my previous post, Eyes on the Prize, we discussed the importance of setting goals. In the neighborhoods served by Property Consultants Realty, it’s reasonable for an agent to earn $100,000 per year. That’s the prize you should fix your eyes on for the next 12 months. Now what? It’s time to plan…and you should plan to pivot.

Plan to Pivot

The bestselling book, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, says that there are two types of lead generation:

Marketing: help leads find you

Prospecting: you go find leads

The book recommends that the bulk of your leads should come from marketing. So to start, plan to generate 75% of your leads via marketing and 25% via prospecting. Initially, your activities may include the following:

Marketing

Active Rain blog

Social media posts; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Social media groups: Facebook

Advertising: Facebook

Website

Prospecting

Telemarketing: expireds, FSBOs

Direct mail: USPS Every Door Direct Mail

Face to Face

Open house

Networking events

Social functions & community events

As you complete activities, pay attention to what’s working and what’s not, then double down on the winners and drop the duds. Of course, you should try things for a couple of months before you call winners and losers.

It’s a Numbers Game

Place the activities listed above on a spreadsheet, then track Goals vs. Actuals each week. Configure the spreadsheet to tally up the month automatically. Following is an excerpt containing one activity:

There’s an App for That

I searched the Internet and came across GoalsOnTrack.com. It seems to do what the spreadsheet does…and then some. Watch the video, then tell me what you think.

What’s Next?

So, you’ve set up a way to track Goals vs. Actuals. Now what? It’s time to get busy! See you next time and have an epic day!

Property Consultants Realty was established in 1989. We are well known in Bucktown, Wicker Park, and the surrounding areas. We are committed to providing world class service based on integrity, communication and expertise. We always place our client’s needs first.

If you’re ready to succeed, want top-notch training, ongoing support, and access to the best tools, then join our team.

Complete the form below and let’s schedule time to talk about your future.